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Haruko Akagi
Haruko Akagi (赤木 晴子, Akagi Haruko?) is Takenori Akagi's younger sister and Sakuragi's love interest. Haruko was responsible for uncovering Sakuragi's athletic talent after seeing him try to dunk a ball at her request. She was impressed by the height of his jump and considered him good enough to join the team. Sakuragi always listens to her due to his deep affection for her. They have gone on some (what Sakuragi considers) non-official dates and have occasionally trained together. Personality Sweet and with a captivating personality, she is always around to cheer on the players, especially her brother Takenori, who is extremely protective of her and taught her the basics of basketball, and Sakuragi, whom she considers her best friend. Haruko often appears at matches together with Sakuragi's cohorts and her two best friends, Fujii and Matsui. She, like most girls in Shohoku, only has eyes for Rukawa, although he never reciprocates her feelings and, later in the anime, she acknowledges that he will not love her the way she wants him to and tries to let go of her crush, however unsuccessfully. Despite her emotional denseness and sweetness, Haruko is a pretty good student, helping Akagi tutor Sakuragi and the other three starters when they had to retake some tests they had failed or be disqualified from the National Tournament, and is not afraid to stand up for others when needed. She confronted Sakuragi when she mistakenly thought that he had attacked Rukawa, and also defended him many times from his most rabid fangirls (one of them even knocked her to the ground in the anime series). At the end of the manga series, Haruko became the second manager of basketball team. Relationships Takenori Akagi Haruko has great respect for her elder brother, and a lot of faith in his as a Basketball player. She always cheers him up and congratulates him on his victory and achievements in the matches. Hanamichi Sakuragi Haruko first met Sakuragi, when she asked him if he likes Basketball. Sakuragi immediately falls in love with her, and decides to play Basketball as way to gain her affection. She is the first person to recognise his potential after she asked him to do a slam dunk, impressed by his jumping ability, which leads her to believe he would be the savior of the basketball team. She is also the first one to befriend him, despite hearing from her friends that Sakuragi is known for being notorious due to his arrogance and short temper. She believes instead that he is a good person and was disappointed when she mistakenly taught Sakuragi has beaten Rukawa, calling him horrible. However, she regretted her actions after Yohei Mito told ther the truth of the incident, and apologised to Sakuragi fo her mean behaviour over him. Since then, the two began to get along and quickly became best friends. She usually helps Sakuragi in his practice, cheers him up during matches, conforts him when he is depressed and usually go out doing several activites for a change of mood. Although Hauko is oblivious and pretty dense for Sakuragi's feelings due to her crush on Rukawa, Sakuragi always tries his best in Basket to win her affection. However, as Sakuragi began to improve in his basketball career, Hauko began slowly to care for him, admiring his hardwork and his achievements. She is also among the ones who witnessed Sakuragi's improvements after he completed 20 00 free shots training, growing envious and proud at the same time for his growth. When Sakuragi got injured in the back during the match against the powerful Sannoh, Sakuragi confessed his love for basketball to Haruko, which made her blush and at the same time concerned about his injury. When Sakuragi scored the winning shot, Haruko began to shed tears of happiness. After the Inter high championship has ended, Sakuragi and Haruko's relationship began to improve as while in rehabilitation, Haruko kept close contact with him, writing letters to him every week informing him of everyone's situation. In the end, Haruko encouraged him to tries his best to recover and once he is done with his rehabilitation, she would be waiting for him; implying she might have reciprocrated his feelings. Kaede Rukawa Like all high school girls, Haruko has a huge crush on Rukawa, due to his amazing talent as a basketball player and always squeals when he scores goals, much to Sakuragi's chagrin. However, luckily for Sakuragi, Rukawa doesn't acknowledge Haruko's crush or any girls' crush on him. When Haruko tries to talk to Rukawa, He simply walks away ignoring her or responding by simple answers to avoid conversation. In fact, Rukawa cares for nothing besides Basketball and himself. Realizing that, Haruko's crush towards him began to decrease slowly, acknowledging she would never be able to get his attention, though she still respects him as an amazing player. At the end of the manga, she turned her attention to Sakuragi instead, staying in close contact with him. Trivia *She has a huge crush on Rukawa. *She was the first person to recognize Sakuragi's potential in basketball. *She always squeals or gets heart strucked whenever Rukawa gets points. *It is implied that at the end of the manga she started to have a crush on Sakuragi. Category:Characters Category:Shohoku High School Category:High School 1st Years